Howard began the thread asking for "a definition of ID" but (since
similar questions are involved), the thread was more about defining TE.
Two messages (numbers 11 & 17) are missing because they're only about
the role of "observation" in quantum mechanics and in the world, a topic
that isn't directly relevant to defining TE.
My comments are in brackets, "[ CR: In my opinion,... ]".
Notice the interplay between the two factors described in my outline:
precision in the GOALS of God, and contingency/divergence in HISTORY.
Craig
I hope all of this isn't "too much at once." If it is, I apologize.
But there are so many important ideas in this thread that it seems a
shame not to recycle them for your further comment. So here they are:
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* 1. HOWARD VAN TILL:
> My request for the last couple of weeks has simply been to have the
>proponents of ID provide us with a public and candid statement of their
>operative definition of 'design' and/or 'intelligent design.'
* 2. BILL HAMILTON:
> God designs the very rules by which things function. Science is an
>enterprise that seeks to discover the laws by which entities in nature
>function.
[ CR: theistic evolutionists tend to emphasize God's "initial
theistic action" in designing the universe. This is a valid idea;
the question is whether initial-TA is ALL that God did. ]
* 3. GEORGE MURPHY:
> Yes, & we can go further if we pay attention to what Scripture
>tells us about God's purpose for creation, the Incarnation of the Word
>(Eph.1:10). That suggests that a rationally ordered universe and the
>evolution of intelligent life are parts of God's design leading to the
>accomplishment of that ultimate purpose. OTOH, there is no reason to
>insist that the intelligent life which would evolve & in which the
>Incarnation would occur would be on our particular planet, or that it be
>bipedal &c. So the development of terrestrial _homo sapiens_ need not
>be seen as essential to God's purpose.
[ CR: Is this a claim that "approximately convergent" HISTORY can
achieve "imprecisely defined" GOALS ? ] { Later, I ask a question
about dolphin incarnations. }